UK UK - Andrew Gosden, 14, Doncaster, South Yorks, 14 Sept 2007

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shadowdancer said:
Andrew comes across to me as somebody who 'feels' very deeply. He also comes across as someone who was quite introverted, possibly quite a 'worrier'.

This would probably make him quite susceptible to depression, anxiety and similar mental health conditions that might contribute to someone deciding to run away. If this was the case then he may simply not be able to face contacting his family.
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Yes, this is a vibe that I get from reading about Andrew too. :( I worry that it led him as far as suicide.
 
Possibly a long shot, but would it be worth looking into the whereabouts of the Lost Prophets gigs around the time Andrew disappeared?
 
That's interesting actually. I have read that Ian used fan sites/social networks/meet-ups to pick up (generally very young, impressionable and star-struck) fans to take advantage of.

Who's to say that he didn't arrange to meet Ian Watkins? I wonder if Andrew was a fan of his? It would be in the genre of music that we know Andrew liked...

I wonder whether there are any links between 'woman a' from Doncaster and Andrew? Doncaster isn't that big a place. I have always found that most people know somebody who knows somebody in that place. I still have family and friends there and every single one of those has a friend, or friend of friend who knows woman a.
 
Right, a quick search suggests that the Lostprophets were on tour from late 2006 to early summer 2007. It then seems that they spent the rest of the year beginning to record their next album. It isn't clear where the recording took place, but London would obviously seem likely...

Edit - Upon further investigation, it seems that the recording took place in LA. However, that's not to say that Watkins wasn't in the UK at all in that part of the year.

Whilst searching to try and find any articles about Watkins from that period, I found this one which is very, very interesting - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-25120687
 
Sorry to post three times in a row, but these characters should also be of interest imo. They groomed teen boys and abused them from 2004 onwards. They were based near Doncaster and one was HIV positive. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...book-Bebo-filming-having-sex-jailed-life.html

They targeted boys who were vulnerable and coming to terms with their sexuality. I feel that this could easily have been the case with Andrew. He was obviously very insular and shy. Could he have been worrying about his sexuality?

Maybe they arranged to meet Andrew in London (to get him alone away from his family), or perhaps Andrew was a victim and he ran away because he was scared/couldn't cope?

I feel sick just typing this stuff, but I think it should be considered. :(
 
I do think there is a chance that Andrew is alive, if he arranged to meet someone and that someone was intent on abuse, Andrew may have felt too ashamed to face up to his family because he originally went willingly. I wonder how impressionable he was? I also wish we knew more about his access to social media, facebook was not as well used by the younger ones in 2007, my daughter who is the same age as Andrew preferred to use Bebo, MSN and Myspace. Did he have access to the internet at home?

What is interesting about the Ian Watkins article is that the girlfriend's son was around 11 at the time so I wonder if the two boys knew each other. I could see Andrew being impressed enough to meet up with someone like Ian but not sure if the others you posted would have that much of an impression on such a bright lad, unless he was frightened in some way and ran. The way he put his washing in the machine makes me think he intended on getting back home and perhaps pretending he went out after school. Someone may have promised that they would get him home and refund his savings so that his family didn't find out. Another thing that I can't get my head around is that he was able to withdraw his savings without an adult, I didn't realise that was possible under the age of 16 and surely he wouldn't have had an atm card at 14?

I do hope he is out there somewhere and just too embarassed to make contact.
 
:bump:

Thinking of Andrew and his loved ones during this holiday season. :beats:

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In today's Daily Mail - The murder of a 14 year old boy. Sadly the circumstances could fit in Andrew's case too, but lets hope not.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...aire-murdered-man-groomed-computer-games.html

For what its worth, I have never believed that Andrew had no online activity. He has always been described as a very clever boy. I am sure that Andrew would have been more than capable of hiding any internet activity that he wished to keep private.
 
Andrew did play computer games and I have also always thought that he was targeted through these as did they not, even back then I have never understood why this did not figure. You can message while playing can't you? Andrew was playing them on the train. Except in this new case the killer is only 18 it is definitely a theory that he went to someone's house and oh dear so many similarities..the church stuff, the clever kid....even the train journey. I am spooked.
 
I am sure actually the clue lies in the Xbox surely it had a number and surely andrew would have had some kind of account and did they ever look at this at all? What games did he play? His user name? surely, surely some kids at his school would have played with him????????
 
Andrews Dad says the police looked into the game playing angle fairly thoroughly, but he didn't play online-just from disks.
 
Jackalyn said:
Andrews Dad says the police looked into the game playing angle fairly thoroughly, but he didn't play online-just from disks.
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Its great that they checked this out so thoroughly, although I wonder whether there may have been clues on the games console that Andrew took with him. Andrew was/is clearly a very private person. He may have wanted to keep his online relationships/activities to himself.
 
This is a shame, that Andrew still hasn't been found and his case appears to be getting so little media attention now.

Two things struck me straight away - he insisted on buying a single ticket so it looks like he wanted people to know he wasn't coming back. Ominously, people about to harm themselves often leave no note and don't appear obviously depressed beforehand. But they do sometimes leave a tiny hint, and a one way ticket might qualify.

The other thing though, is that he headed to London. That's not exactly a likely suicide destination, apart from people who want to jump under trains. I don't think Andrew could have been heading to Chislehurst or Sidcup to the relatives; he'd have needed to get the Underground to London Bridge to make the connection, so I don't see why he would have walked out of King's Cross Mainline. Getting a cab there is so unlikely, I just can't believe he would have done that.

As Andrew was mathematically inclined, I'm guessing he liked maps too? (I have one like this at home!). The London tube map is particularly charming, lots of copies are free and so I think Andrew would have known exactly which tube he needed to get to reach wherever he was going.

Myself, I think he turned right towards the taxis not because he was heading for a taxi, but because he was heading for the road behind them (York Road??) beside St Pancras. Towards Camden Market, the goth/metal Mecca, for all goths who don't live in London (I think the London goths hang out elsewhere).

London is also interesting because it is the central connection point to almost every other destination in the UK, and mainland Europe. So if you wanted to hide your ultimate destination, it's an excellent place to do it.

I wonder if police have managed to obtain a DNA sample for Andrew (this is not something done routinely by UK police for missing persons)? And if a computer forensic expert has checked the family computer out? I'm not casting aspersions on the family here - I mean in case Andrew was using it in secret and deleted everything before he left.

I hope he is found soon. It is hard to see how a boy so young looking could survive on his own, but I am not convinced this young man (now) is deceased, myself.
 
By the way, if there was any connection to the despicable Ian Watkins of Lost Prophets (now serving 25 years for raping a baby and other child sex offences) it is likely to be discovered. Operation Globe (codename for the Watkins investigation) is still ongoing, stretches to LA and back, and his former girlfriend Joanne Mjazdelics has just been arrested in the last few days, in connection with the case.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/ian-watkins-inquiry-joanne-mjadzelics-6774906

There is a huge amount of social media in that case. Does anyone know any user names that Andrew may have used online?
 
Here is the recently established resource for UIDs in the UK. If Andrew is deceased and for some reason dentals were not ascertainable on his body and/or police never obtained Andrew's dental records or DNA, it may be a matter of combing through the database, looking for possible matches.

Matches can and do get missed by police, I think. I'm not sure the database is completely comprehensive yet - and UID's in Ireland have just been buried in unmarked graves with just the barest details recorded, or sometimes none at all.

http://www.missingpersons.police.uk/
 
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